Step 1. Cut out your desired pattern. You can get our template here or make your own. Our template is a natural looking shoe incorporating a narrower heel, longer toe box and an added 'seam' allowance at the edge allowing for an 'overlap' for the shoe edge.

Step 2. Roll out your gumpaste (with your small roller then pasta roller setting first 1 then roll with 2)

Step 3. Cut out your ballet shoe pattern on your gumpaste with a small sharp knife. Flip for other side shoe.

NOTE: Pink gumpaste/fondant fades with natural and artificial light (I know such a bummer especially for color matching!) so put it away asap or keep it under a towel to keep it from fading. Also like to store any project work in a cabinet or anywhere completely dark (see pix below).

Step 4. Lay your gumpaste shoe sole piece on top of your foam piece (foam is cut narrower to template). Dab sugar glue with a brush along the back side of the edge perimeter of the entire sole. Starting from the back and working toward the sides, gently place the Upper shoe portion edges on top of the glue line on the sole (you are working at the back of the shoe at this point). The pix above shows the glued overlap at the back of the shoes (sorry I didn't get more working pix!! I always do all the work and forget to take pix!! Not to mention you have to work fast since you gum is drying aahhh!

Finally, bring over the toe part and lay it up 'straight-ish'. This gives you a more natural looking ballet point toe. At this point your shoe is still soft and just drying out a touch. Turn it over and cup it in your hands to shape it, bringing in the sides like a natural looking shoe. Add glue to the back to close the back seam. Bend it back in your hands to give it an arched look.

Step 5. Now how to get it to dry to a natural arch? Use a bag of cotton balls to get the right shape. Manipulate the cotton balls to set the shape. Let dry in a dark place (pink fades fast when exposed to light! I know this is hard because all I wanted to do was look at the topper and I had to stow it away!).

Step 6. Cut out a 4" gumpaste circle 'plate' to glue your shoes on to. This plate will allow you to remove and save the topper as a keepsake.

Step 7. Once dry brush on luster dust to help prevent fading (dusting is a must for pinks). Roll small pieces of gumpaste or use an extruder to create shoe strings. Position shoes on their toe in a flattering position on top of your circle plate. I played around with a cup for support. Add pieces of fondant as supports for the shoes to 'lean' on using your sugar glue. Use a support for shoes to lean on and allow to dry until firm.

Step 8. Once firm, cut your shoe ribbons using a straight edge and rotary cutter. I rolled these out using my Kitchen Aid down to setting 3. Position ribbons in a way that add support and structure (AND looks beautiful!) to the shoes and attach at all contact points using sugar glue. This part is tricky and can take time all the while your ribbons are drying out and probably not wanting to stick to well to the contact points!! Have patience here and work as long the gumpaste lets you. If you get small tears it is ok they are not very visible especially if you try closing them and let it dry firm without a gap. Let dry in a dark place.

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https://cakecouturelove.com/blogs/news/how-to-make-a-lego-cake2018-05-16T20:56:00-07:002018-05-28T14:59:02-07:00How to make a Lego CakeChristie Apodaca

So what kind of Lego builder are you? Do you build sets, take them apart and build them again? My daughter loves to do that.

Or maybe you build them and since it took FOREVER you never take it apart and admire it forever. That is SO me!

But this post is not about that kind of Lego building habits. THIS post is all about BUILDING a beautiful Lego cake and enjoying the yummy thing!:-D

Let's dive in...

Key Materials

1. Marshmallow Fondant (MMF). In Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue (but OMG just imagine a pink, purple, and white block cake!! Sooo cute:-D) Make your own, there are a lot of simple recipes online! Or use Wilton fondant in a pinch, whatever you do, I DO NOT recommend Satin Ice. This is a great fondant for many other purposes, however, for this project this fondant doesn't fill each cavity very well and lacks firmness to make clean pieces.

4. Ganached cake. The cake in picture is a 1/4 sheet cake (9"x13") covered in chocolate ganache (smoothed with a bench scrapper). This gives you an extra block-y look. See gananche instructions on our post here.

The Steps

Step 1. Prepare Fondant. A few days before you want the finished cake mix your marshmallow fondant with your desired colors.

I recommend starting with the lightest fondant color and working your way to the darkest (I do yellow, green, red, then blue). This way you can keep from cross contaminating your fondant colors and save yourself from over washing/drying your hands. NOTE: If you make the topper you will also need black, white and extra red and yellow.

Let the fondant 'rest' overnight AFTER completely mixing colors it, by letting your fondant 'rest', it will dry/firm a little and make it a bit easier to work with

HOW MUCH of which color you ask? That depends on the look you want. I wanted a lot of yellow on top, wanted a lot of green for the board and very little blue.

Note: Get a rough idea of how many pieces you will need per color by estimating how many you will need to cover the top of your cake pan and cake board. (hint: try to envision how much fondant it will take to cover your pan)

The size I used here was a 1/4 sheet pan (9" x 13") and for the look I wanted it required about:

Do this in advance to allow your pieces to dry and therefore create 'sharp' looking blocks. Drier fondant is sharper looking fondant and sharp looking fondant always looks cleaner and gives a more finished look. But if you are out of time last minute is OK too!!

Again, get a rough idea of how many pieces you need per color by estimating how many you will need to cover the top of your cake pan and cake board. (hint: try to envision how much fondant it will take to cover your pan)

For this 1/4 sheet (9" x 13") and for the look I wanted it required about:

NOTES ON HOW TO USE THE MOLD: Roll a 1" ball of fondant FIRMLY to get all of the creases out), push the ball into the mold cavity real well with your fingers (not a roller). Then using a sharp knife cut off the excess on TOP so that it is flush with the mold. If this gets to be too sticky rub a touch of powdered sugar on top before cutting the excess fondant. Then, bend the mold back with your fingers and pull / peel the fondant piece out of the mold slowly (do not use anything else but your fingers so as not to damage the mold or your piece). RE-SQUARE the soft pieces with a straight edge on a large flat surface dusted with powdered sugar.

Let your pieces dry for a full day or two (minimum overnight).

STORAGE NOTE: Store on trays or cutting boards in a dark area such a pantry or cabinet away from sunlight and bulb light to prevent them from fading or changing color. DO NOT store them in an air-tight condition, this will cause marshmallow fondant to sweat and stay soft.

Once they are fully dry, cut the block pieces evenly into 3 smaller pieces. DO NOT cut all the green pieces since you need a good amount of those for the cake board.

Step 3. Make the Name Plate Topper. While your blocks are drying and since you have just worked with all of your colors you can now use this fondant to make the name plate.

Roll out the fondant colors, cut out your template letters, cut the name, the black, yellow, and the red and black backgrounds using a small sharp knife. Use shortening to adhere layers together.

Step 4. Prepare Cake. Bake and cool your cake completely. Torte it by slicing down the center of the layer for the filling and then FREEZE. You can wrap or not (with plastic wrap or foil), this might depend on the types of other food items in your freezer. For instance I had a cake-only freezer so I never needed to wrap when storing short term. Short term freezing will incorporate more moisture into your cake so don't worry about it drying out:)! Short term might be less than 2 days or 2 hours...really depends on your freezer.

When you are ready to start the decorating process pull the cake out of the freezer. Next separate the layers carefully and fill with your desired filling.

Use your chocolate ganache to coat sides and top of cake with a spatula. If your ganache is too firm heat in the microwave for just a little bit and apply. Use a bench scrapper to achieve nice clean sides and top. Once your ganache is on if you want, to 'fix' the smoothness with the bench scrapper, heat a pot of water to dip and heat the bench scrapper.

Refrigerate your ganached cake for about an hour to firm. While this is refrigerating let's start the side blocks!

Step 5. Make Side Blocks

Roll out wide pieces of 4 different colors preferably using a pasta roller. I use a kitchen-aid one that attaches to my mixer. NOTE: To get a thicker piece than the #1 setting, reverse it (back the knob up). It will work just as well and give you a thicker piece.

Let your rolled out pieces dry preferably for about 1/2 hour to an hour.

While these are drying, create your cutting guide (or purchase ours here). Using graph paper or engineering paper draw lines using a straight edge using the same width and length of your small molded block pieces (the dimensions of the final piece after you have cut it into 3). If you bought a mold these templates are now included with each block mold order!:).

AFTER the pieces have firmed from the drying, cut out these pieces using a small knife, a straight edge, and your paper guide. By having waited for the pieces to dry out this will go a lot faster:).

These I like to cut as I decorate, I found these hard to estimate quantity.

Step 5. Put it all Together!!

Ok so this is what I think is the fun part! Apply a thin film of shortening to get your block pieces to stick. I like to use shortening because you can move your pieces around later if it needs tweaking.

Next, start playing building blocks! Create your own block color pattern on top of the cake.

Overhang the border blocks just a tad so the side pieces will meet flush just under them.

Match the side pieces of the first row to the border pieces with the appropriate color.

Cut side pieces where necessary. Match accordingly working from the top down and use a straight edge to align as needed

Fill the remaining rows of the side freestyle!

Apply green pieces on the board by using sugar glue. Simply make this with the following steps: